Platform for portable drilling masts



Dec. 15, 1953 J. MOON 2,662,797

PLATFORM FOR PORTABLE DRILLING MASTS Filed Sept. 29, 1947 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 F 7 v INVENTOR.

. James Moo/v A ToEa/Eg Dec. 15, 1953' J. MOON PLATFORM FOR PORTABLE DRILLING MASTS 0 2 4 a an a m 2 RAM 1 S a 6 3 m 1 S 9 4 3 M1 1 m w W P fl 5 F u 0 A n 3 8 3 5 2 Z l| |l|||| o n n 2 o '00 o 3 M l o 9 l 1 0 w v T L! m m L a J d w m 2 1- F Dec. 15, 1953 J. MOON 2,662,797

PLATFORM FOR PORTABLE DRILLING MASTS Filed Sept. 29, 1947 5 Sheets-Sheet S \E 4 E 56 I in '2, 53 ii! Ii 36 L55 22 19 22 as IN VEN TOR. James 1% 00M & TTOR/VE y.

Patented Dec. 15, 1953 1 TED STATES PAT E N T o rs we PLiATFORM FOR PORTABILEJDKILDING :MASTS amesMoon, hl'tadena, Calif., aissignor toWe'stern Oil T061 8; Engineering "Co. Inc lHoIlydaie, *Calin, a corporation ofCall'f'ornla Applicationiseptember 29, 1947, Serial No. 77165631 This invention relates to a tube platform for drilling masts which may be :erected and demounted in connection with transportable drilling and well servicing equipment.

It is particularly designedto be used with-the so-called portable drilling or servicing rigs in which the mast :is mounted upon a transportable platform or vehicle on which vehicle it rests when being transported, and in which mechanism is provided on such :platform or vehicle to :erect said most at the'drilling site orat-the wellhead to be serviced. Such masts are well known in the drilling art and in the "art of oil well operations and are known asportable drill- .ing and servicing rigs. They'are usually-mounted upon trucks or trailers in such @a manner that the mast is pivotally hinged upon a suitable support-mounted upon the truck or trailer with mechanism for pivoting said mast "from a collapsed position upon the platform, truck, or trailer -.to

move said mast .into an erect position at the well site while still attached to the transportable platform, truck, or trailer. Such masts are usually of the telescoping type in that they are composed of a plurality of sections which are-t xtensible in height after they are :erected and may be retracted into collapsed position when the mast is to be placed upon its transportable platform, truck, or trailer.

The particular design of the drilling mast and its method of mounting upon such platform,

truck, or trailer iorm no .part of the present invention and will not be further described except by reference to the co-pending applications Serial No. 691,717 now Patent No. 2,583,958, is-

sued January 29, l952-and Serial .No. 677,584 :iiled pipe called stands. The pipe is rotated by a rotary table positioned at the well head and as .more pipe is desired additionalpipesections'are added to the drill string. It is also frequently necessary to withdraw the drill string, for example in order to change :bitspand this is done by withdrawing the drill string and'zdisconnectlng composed of a large number of joints of drill.

2 provide mechanism .for handling the ,pipe and stacking and .rack-i-ng it during the process of making up or breaking down the drill string. This is well and is conventional in the drilling art.

The purpose of this invention to provide a means for racking and stacking the drill pipe and to aid in the .process of making up or break .ing .downdrill strings. :I have therefore ;provided a tubing platform which may be mounted upon the drilling mast for this purpose.

The particular L'feature of novelty and invention which .I claim for my tubing platform -is its mounting, whereby it automaticallymoves into an perative position when the drilling .mast is erected and automatically collapses into an inoperativeposition when thedrillingmast ismoved outof operative position onto the transportable platform upon which it mounted.

By providing such type of mounting .for the tubing platform it is unnecessary to disconnect 'the'tubing platform from the drilling-mast when the drilling mast is to be collapsed and positioned upon the tubing platform. It is therefore unnecessary to separately mount the tubing plat- .form when the mast is moved into an erect ,position.

advantage in saving of time moving into an operative .position or moving out .oif the drilling .site berecognized by those skilled this .art.

Other advantages and objects-of my invention will appear more clearly from the further --de scription of this invention taken in connection with the drawings, in which .Fig. 1 is a fragmentary vertical elevation or a drilling mast operative position;

"Fig. 2-is a section takenon line 4-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. v1i is .a .fragmentary yiew showing the mounting of the platform .upon the legs of the derrick;

Fig. 4 is --a section taken on the line 4-4 of Fig.3;

Fig.5 isafrontelevationoi Fig. 3

Fig. 6 is a similar :view -:showing the collapsed position of theplatform;

'7 is a section taken through the i'cylinxier employed in Fig.3;

Fig. i8 is a section taken :on line '8-4 :0! Fig.5.;

9 :15 41 section :taken on the dine ie-=4 "b Fig.8;

:Fig. 19 is Fa detail v-lew taken on line 40-40 of 2, showing the hinge bracket with .fparts the several stands. .It is therefore necessary to 55 rremovedqforiclg-rity;

ing is claimed, and it is sufficient for the purpose of this application to state that the drilling mast is hinged at hinge point 2, upon a suitably provided bracket on the drilling mast, upon a frame 3 mounted upon the truck or trailer on each side of the front end thereof, the cab of the truck being positioned between said trusses.

The elevating mechanism is an elevating cylinder 4 which is hinged on the truck, not shown here, and upon a hinge point 5. This method of mounting the elevating mechanism is also described in my co-pending application Ser. No. 10,412 filed February 24, 1948. I may, however, employ the method of mounting shown in the patents above referred to.

Such derricks are conventionally composed of a lower section 6 which is mounted upon feet I and is suitably braced with cross bracings 8 and 9. At each of the horizontal cross bracings 9 in the lower section 6 is a box girder shown at in Fig. 2. This box girder is mounted upon legs II of the lower section 6. The box girder carries guides [2 which extend the entire length of the lower section 6 which act as guides and bearing plates for legs 13 and [4 of the telescoping section 4. These guides contain the telescoping section which is extended by suitable mechanism when the derrick is elevated. Such methods of extension are well known in the art and are illustrated and described in my co-pending application Serial No. 677,584 filed June 18, 1944, now abandoned and in Patent No. 2,331,559. The legs l3 and [4 are cross-braced at various points by horizontal bracing I5 and vertical bracing ll.

The tubing platform may be mounted either upon the front leg I I of the lower section or upon the front legs I4 of the inner telescoping section, since upon both such sections it will serve and act in the same manner. trated in the drawings shows it mounted upon the legs [4 of the inner telescoping section, but it is understood that the invention will also extend to mounting said platform upon the lower section as well.

Mounted upon the legs l4 are channel members l8 welded to the legs l4 and extending a distance covering the various stations at which the tubing platform may be desired to be mounted. A plurality of brackets l9 are provided at spaced points. Only two are shown in Fig. 3 although it will be understood that more than two may be provided to permit different positioning of the tubing platform at various vertical elevation as shown in Fig. 1. Mounted on bracket 19 is another bracket 20 connected to bracket [9 by suitable bolts 2|, said bracket 20 carrying a tubular member 22 which acts as a fulcrum point for the purposes more fully described hereafter.

The tubing platform, except for the method of mounting as herein described, may be a conventional design or may be of the form illustrated in the figures. The platform carries a number of tubing fingers 23, a racking platform 24, and a tubing bumper 24. The tubing platform is open The form illusover the well site indicated at 26 to provide a space 28 through which the tubing may be passed. The tubing is illustrated at its various positions at 29. The tubing platform is hinged at 30 upon the upper brackets l 9. The platform carries side rails 3| spaced apart for a distance greater than the width of the derrick to permit them to fit over the outer legs H, as will appear more fully below.

Mounted upon the front corners of the platform is a pair of brackets 32 upon which is hingedly mounted a front gate 33 by means of depending brackets 34 pivotally mounted upon brackets 32 upon pins 35.

Cylinder 36 is pivotally mounted on lower bracket 19 at pivot pin 31 passing through a bracket 38 connected to the cylinder head. The cylinder has a piston 39, piston rod 40, and packing gland M. The piston rod is screw connected at 42 to a link rod 43 which is pivotally connected upon pin 44 to the bracket 34. There are two cylinders and two links 43 which connect each of the brackets I9 upon each of the front legs l3 to each of the brackets 32 positioned on the front corners of the tubing platform.

Positioned at each end of the cylinder 36, one on each side of the piston 39, are two leaks formed of two bolts 45, each having a vertical bore 46 and transverse bore 41. The linkage, composed of 43 and 36, acts as telescoping, i. e., expansible and contractible, braces for the platform to help support the platform load against the mast legs.

The operation of this device will be apparent from what has been stated before. When the derrick is collapsed and positioned in its horizontal normal resting position upon the truck I, the platform is nested against the derrick in the position shown in Fig. 6 in which the tubing platform rests against the outer or upper legs i I with the link rod 43 and the cylinder 35 resting against the platform 34 and parallel thereto. The front gate 33 is positioned at a slight angle around its pivot point 35 and rests against the legs II, as shown in Fig. 6. The normal position of the structure will appear by rotating Fig. 6 from I that shown in the drawing.

When the derrick is erected the derrick pivots around its pivot point 2. As the derrick is elevated it passes through a vertical position and is erected as previously described and shown in Fig. 1. As this occurs the center of gravity of the platform moves to the left of the vertical axis and the weight of the platform causes it to pivot about its pivot point 35 to drop into a horizontal position substantially perpendicular to the mast legs, shown in Figs. 1 and 3. In so doing the rod 43 retracts the piston rod 49 to push the piston 39 into the cylinder. The rod 43 pivots around the hinge point 44, theplatform pivots around the hinge point 35, and the ends of the rails 3| approach the gate 33 to cause the gate to move into closed position, shown in Fig. 3, with the 'piston 39 at its retracted position. The leakage vents 46 and 4? control the rate at which the piston 39 is retracted into the cylinder and therefore prevents the platform from descending into the position shown in Fig. 3 too abruptly.

The upper derrick section may then be extended by the normal extending mechanism by moving it upwardly inside the guides I2, and in so doing the platform is elevated with the internal section to the desired elevation. When the drilling mast is to be collapsed the extensible section 4 is retracted inside the outer section 6 to its lowermost position and the derrick is then moved backward about its hinge point 2, causing the derrick to rotate about its hinge point 2, to be moved from the position in Fig. 1 to a vertical position and then downward onto the truck 1.

In so doing the center of gravity of the tubing platform is moved on the right or truck side of the vertical and the platform collapses, the platform rotating around the hinge point 3d, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3, the link pulling the piston 39 backward. The gate 39 rotates about hinge points id, and the derrick platform is collapsed against the legs H, as indicated in Fig. 6. In so doing the leak through the vents t6 and 1? of the vent plug d5 controls the rate at which the tubing platform is moved against the legs H, thus preventing too abrupt collapsing of the platform.

While I have described a particular embodiment of my invention for the purpose of illustration, it should be understood that various modifications and adaptations thereof may be made within the spirit of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A tubing platform for demountable drilling masts, which comprises an elongated mast, a tubing platform for said mast, a hinge mounting between said mast and one end of said platform, a

pivotally mounted gate for said platform, a pivotally mounted link on the front of said platform, said gate being mounted upon said link, a telescoping bracing link pivotally mounted on said first-mentioned link, and a pivotal connection between said telescoping bracing link and said mast.

2. A tubing platform for demountable drilling masts according to claim 1, said telescoping link comprising a cylinder, a piston in said cylinder, an air leak on said cylinder mounted near each end of said cylinder, and a piston rod connected to said piston.

3. A hinged oil well mast, a support for said mast, said mast being on a hinge mounted on said support and movable from a horizontal rest position on said support on one side of a vertical through said hinge point to an erected position on the other side of said vertical, said mast being inclined to the vertical at an acute angle when erected, means for moving said mast from said substantially horizontal position through the vertical to said erected position, a second hinge mounted on said mast, a tubing platform hingedly mounted for relatively free rotation about said second hinge, the center of mass of said platform about said second hinge being disposed on the erected side or" a vertical passing through said second hinge when the mast is erected and on the retracted side of a vertical passing through said second hinge when said mast is retracted to a horizontal position, a telescoping bracing link, a. pivotal connection between said mast and one end of said telescoping bracing link, a pivotal connection between the other end of said link and said platform, said telescoping link comprising a cylinder, a piston in said cylinder, an air leak on said cylinder mounted near each end of said cylinder, and a piston rod connected to said piston.

JAMES MOON.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 881,227 Dodge Mar. 10, 1908 1,120,885 Babcock Dec. 15, 1914 2,164,327 Hawkins July 4, 1939 2,217,783 Bell Oct. 15, 1940 2,291,055 Ortloff July 28, 1942 2,336,432 Wilson Dec. 7, 1943 2,413,149 McCarthy et al. Dec. 24, 1946 

